


You are Distinguished

by rose_willow



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, LIKE REALLY WORRIED, Trust-Issues, Worried Caleb, based upon something caleb said in episode 10, episode 10, focuses on Caleb and Nott, i wrote this instead of doing homework, language typical of the show, the mighty nein - Freeform, this turned out longer than i meant it to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 16:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14061210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rose_willow/pseuds/rose_willow
Summary: Based upon Caleb's comment about not trusting "these people".Nott overhears the conversation and believes that Caleb doesn't trust her either. In despair, she leaves the group and gets into trouble. While searching for her, the group sees just how much Nott means to Caleb and both Caleb and Nott realize just how much they mean to each other.





	You are Distinguished

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based upon the comment Caleb made about not trusting "these people" in episode 10.  
> This will be AU after episode 11 airs, technically.

“I don’t trust any of these people. Except . . .”

Nott smiled silently to herself. Her goblin hearing allowed her to keep tabs of people having conversations, even when they walked away. So, when Caleb had taken Fjord to the side to talk to him, she had tuned in, making sure that Caleb was alright and that Fjord didn’t say anything mean. She liked this new group, but she liked Caleb more.

“No, I don’t trust any of these people.”

Nott’s smile disappeared and her chest ached like she’d just been shot with another arrow. She blinked back tears as her hands clenched and she stopped listening in on their conversation. She’d heard enough. She’d heard that Caleb didn’t trust her. That fact hurt worse, actually, then taking an arrow to the chest. The feeling was familiar, from a time before Caleb, but she hadn’t thought that she would ever feel it again after meeting him. She remembered what Jester had implied back in Alfield: it was only a matter of time before people didn’t like you anymore.

It was best to move on before they told you.  

 

* * *

 

Nott’s doleful yellow eyes slowly opened about an hour after Caleb had gone to bed. She’d wanted to give him enough time so that he would be actually asleep before she left. She didn’t want to run the risk that he would wake up and try to stop her.

She shook her head, ears drooping too far to move much with the shake. Caleb wouldn’t try to stop her. Not if he didn’t trust her. He would probably just lay there and pretend to be asleep so that he could avoid a confrontation . . .

She glanced suspiciously towards the sleeping human in the room and listened for a moment, sighing when she heard a gentle snore rise from him. He always snored when he was sleeping deeply, even when they had been in the forest, before they’d met The Mighty Nein. Back when it had just been the two of them.

Her heart clenched in her chest and her stomach turned. Her feet felt like they were sticking to the ground as she forced them to move around the room. It would be better for Caleb if she left. Even if he didn’t trust her, she cared for him. At the moment, she was particularly conscious of her green skin and clawed hands. It would be safer for him if she wasn’t there to draw attention to them. Anyways, Caleb didn’t need help. He was very smart.

Writing a quick note on a piece of paper that she found in his pack, she left it, her ear-muffs, and a stack of 13 gold on the floor where she normally slept.

Frumpkin cried softly at her from his position at the foot of Caleb’s bed. Caleb was sleeping on his side, back facing the door, continuing to softly snore as Nott moved around the room. She’d learned from prior experience that Caleb was a deep sleeper. Moving closer to the bed, she gave Frumpkin’s head a pat and whispered through the lump in her throat. “Goodbye, Frumpkin. Take care of Caleb.”

Frumpkin gave her a questioning look, tilting his head to the side as her hand dropped away.

She shook her head sadly. “He doesn’t need me anymore. He probably doesn’t want me here, either. I’m . . . I’m just a goblin.” Clenching her jaw to stop the tears, she turned away and left the room without looking back, closing the door behind her as quietly as possible. Without making any sound, she went down the stairs to the ground floor of the bar and left the inn, passing into the dark night of the city alone.

Back in the room, Frumpkin jumped off the bed and walked silently to the closed door. He flopped onto his back and stretched a paw underneath it, crying softly into the gap.

 

* * *

 

Caleb rolled over as light gently streamed through the window, opening his eyes as movement came from the door. The night before, he’d been so tired that he forgot to set the wire to warn him if someone entered or left, so he was going purely off of the sound of something rustling. Drowsily, he scrubbed a hand down his face and asked, “Nott? Have you already been out?”

There was no answer.

“Nott?” Caleb sat up and looked towards the door, puzzled when he saw that it was Frumpkin there rather than his small friend. Moving his gaze around the room, his concern only grew when he didn’t see Nott anywhere inside. He swung his legs over the side of the bed as his eyes landed on the space where Nott normally slept, now only occupied by a pair of earmuffs and a stack of gold coins. He stumbled over and bent down to pick up the items, barely catching the piece of paper as it fell from where it had been clasped. It was a piece of parchment that he recognized as one of the stack that he purchased from Pumat Sol and it was folded, hiding the small, delicate writing inside. He recognized the writing as soon as he opened it, as he had just seen it a day or two ago when Nott was helping him transcribe his spells.

It read, _I’m sorry._

Fear struck Caleb’s heart like a knife as he realized what had happened. Everything fell into place. Frumpkin by the door in addition to Nott’s absence meant that she wasn’t out.

She was gone.

Earmuffs, note, and gold still held in his hands, Caleb rushed from his and Nott’s room, Frumplin on his sock-clad heels, and next door to Fjord and Molly’s. He kicked the door, since his hands were full, and burst in as soon as it started to open.

“She’s gone. She’s gone. She left. I don’t - She’s gone.” He was pretty sure that some of the words came out in Zemnian, but that didn’t matter. Some must have been in Common because Fjord answered.

“Slow down,” he said, hands raised in a placating gesture. “Who’s gone? Gone where?”

Molly woke up from where he’d still been sleeping on the floor, popping upright with one eye closed as he licked his lip. “Wha?”

Raising the items he held in his hands, Caleb continued to show them to Fjord. “She left these. The note was in between the ear muffs I bought her yesterday. And she,” he swallowed as he looked down at the gold he held in his other hand. Fjord noticed the difference. Normally, when Caleb looked at gold, it was with a glint of possibility in his eyes. Now, as he looked at the small pile of gold, it was only with regret and worry, as the corners of his mouth pulled back to add to his frown. “She left this gold. I just don’t understand.”

Fjord nodded down at the shorter human as his gaze diverted to Mollymauk who was standing, stretching, and pulling his shirt on. “Do you know why she would suddenly leave like this?” Molly asked, cracking his neck as he padded softly to stand beside Caleb and Fjord. “Did she mention anything to you?”

Caleb diverted his gaze as his eyes went distant, searching his mind for anything. After a second, he shook his head. “Nothing. She said nothing. I don’t know what could-.” He stopped suddenly, his eyes wide with realization. “Goblin hearing,” he gasped.

Molly and Fjord traded a glance. “What about it?” They simultaneously asked.

“It’s very good. She sometimes listens in when I talk to people. I’ve known that she did that, but I didn’t think about it yesterday when I spoke to you,” he answered, directing the last point specifically to Fjord.

“Why would that conversation make her run away?” Molly asked, sliding closer to Caleb as he studied the wizard’s face.

“I said that I didn’t trust any of you.” Caleb looked up at Molly, his eyes tortured and brimming with tears. “She may think that I mean her, too.” His hands clenched around the items he was holding, crumpling the paper and squeezing the gold deeply into his palms to the point where it was nearly painful. Raising his fists to his face, he pressed them to his eyes, knees shaking as a horrible realization came to him. “What if I caused her to run away?”

Molly reached out a hand to steady the man while Fjord looked increasingly more worried. A knock at the door was their only warning before Jester burst through, followed by Beauregard, who looked like she was trying to stop the excited cleric from entering.

“Good mornin-,” Jester started before she saw the scene before her. Beau, too, looked puzzled and, after leaning into view from beside the door frame, Yasha raised an eyebrow and smirked at Mollymauk. Leaning slightly forward, Jester put a hand next to her mouth, as if speaking in secret, before asking, “Are you guys going to have an orgy?”

Her only answer was the sound of gold coins hitting the floor as Caleb used two hands to clutch the earmuffs and note against his chest.     

 

* * *

 

 

Nott peered out from the dark corner that she had found. The city seemed so much bigger when she was alone. There were more people, especially more people who looked really mean, and the noise made everything very confusing. She found herself occasionally looking up over her shoulder for a familiar figure, but he was never there. She reminded herself again that it was for the better. Caleb didn’t need her.

“What are you doing here?”

Looking up, Nott saw what looked like a very poor man standing over her. His clothes were filthy and ill fitting, hiding what she suspected was a very thin frame beneath. Pulling her hood further down, she hid her features from the probing brown eyes beneath two thick gray eyebrows. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded, gesturing towards the wall. “You should be! This is my spot! Don’t you know how this works?”

She shook her head, continuing to hide her face.

“We all have to make a living. This is my corner! This is where I sit! If you plan on getting some money, you gotta find your own corner. Not mine. This is mine!” He was almost hysterical in his exclamations, bouncing from side to side as he tried to get her attention.

“I’m sorry,” she answered. Gripping her cloak around her neck and her hood further down her face, she started to back away from him, still close to the ground.

She was still trying to hide her face from him, but it was becoming harder as he grew more curious, bending down to try and spot something beneath her hood.

“What’s the meaning of this? You got something of worth underneath that h - What the hell?!” He’d grabbed Nott’s hood and pulled it, revealing part of her green forehead and stringy black hair, still pulled back in its ponytail.

She jumped to her feet, then, and took off, pushing past the old man as he shrieked “Goblin!” behind her. The people in the street must have been used to him, though, because no one paid him any notice as the small figure dashed out into the growing crowd.

 

* * *

 

Caleb finished pulling on his coat as he walked down the steps to the bar portion of the inn. The earmuffs and the note were safely tucked into one of his many pockets, along with the emotional breakdown that he had narrowly avoided. Like his possessions, though, it was still there, just waiting for a good time come out.

A thunder of feet followed him down the steps and a voice spoke up among them, coming from the groups resident cleric. “Caleb, wait!”

Caleb spun around about halfway to the door. “There is no time to wait,” he hissed, his accent thick in his emotion. “Nott is out there. She is alone. I have to find her.”

Molly tried to calm him. “Yes, and we are going to help you do that, but-.”

“What if she doesn’t want to be found?” Yasha questioned, speaking the words like thought that had escaped.

“Yeah?” Beauregard asked, shrugging her corssed arms arms crossed as she faced him, the only other human in the group. “She left for a reason.”

Caleb shook his head and whispered something under his breath in Zemnian. “I have to talk to her. I have to explain what she heard.”

“You know, Caleb, it sounds a lot like it’s your fault she’s gone.” Everyone in the room held their breath as Caleb stiffened like he’d been slapped. Beau continued, though, adding, “From what you’ve said, you said some shit about not trusting us, she thought you meant her, too, and she left.”

Fjord moved forwards, placing a hand against Beau’s shoulder to try and push her back, but she resisted. “Beau-,”

“Der fehler gehört mir.” Caleb couldn’t look at them. His eyes were averted and his hands shook by his side. “Der fehler gehört mir.”

Beau ignored Fjord, who was looking morosely at Caleb, and continued. “There were a lot of “I”s in what you said, earlier. Are you doing this for her or for you? Are you doing this so that you can explain what you said  . . . or so that you can make an excuse?”

The coat was almost swallowing the wizard at this point as he performed his best impression of a turtle. “She has to know.”

“And then what?” Beau asked.

“Beauregard,” Molly warned, moving forward and looking stern.

“What?” She asked, looking between them. “I want to know. Is he going to drag her back here?” She redirected her attention towards Caleb. “You going to pull her back because you need her? What if she’s better off by herself? She’s an adult goblin, you know? She can make her own decisions.”

Caleb nodded, eyes not raising from the floor as he agreed. “You’re right.” Everyone stared at him in shock, eyes wide and mouths open as he continued. “About everything. After I talk to Nott . . . I’ll leave. None of you will ever have to see me again.”

“Caleb!” Jester called after him, reaching for his arm, as he spun around and withdrew from the inn.

Fjord roughly brushed past Beau while shooting her a look over his shoulder, as Jester crossed her own arms and glared at the back of the monk’s head. “Way to go, Beau.”

Molly followed Fjord, hands clenched into fists. “Nicely handled.”

Eyes wide with understanding of what she had pushed the fragile man towards, Beau looked around before sputtering and finally managing, “Come on,” leading the remaining members in the inn out into the busy city streets.

 

* * *

 

Her stomach was rumbling noisily, now. Hunger wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation, but it was one that she hadn’t been experiencing as often once she had met Caleb. _I can take care of this,_ she thought. After all, she had been on her own before. Just . . . not in this big of a city.

Sniffing the air, she was instantly drawn towards a small cart on the side of the street, selling late lunch items of meat on sticks. She could smell the scent of pork, chicken, and beef with some kind of seasoning that the man seemed to be sprinkling on the sticks right before he handed them to people. To Nott’s hungry eyes, they looked perfect.

Making her way towards the small cart, she smiled beneath her mask at the man who was talking amicably with the people who purchased his items. He looked nice enough, so she shouldn’t have any kind of problem. Once she reached the cart, she looked up at him and spoke in her clearest voice possible. “Excuse me, sir!”

The man finished business with a short man in work clothes and turned to her, his brows furrowing as he looked down at her. “Something I can help you with?” His tone was gruff and Nott was beginning to revise her initial opinion of him.

“I was wondering if I could purchase some of your meats?” Suddenly very self-conscious about her hood and the spots of green skin that could be seen between the wrappings and her mask, she tugged on the side, wishing that the man would stop staring at her and just take her money for some food.

It must have been her fingers that betrayed her, seen only from her self-conscious adjustment of her hood. His eyes grew wide and he started to come out from behind his cart, face growing red with anger as he neared her. “Goblin-filth! Get lost! Get outta here! What do you think you’re doing around here?! SCRAM!”

Nott started to scuttle away, but that didn’t prevent the side of his boot catching her back and sending her face down into the dirt. She raked her nails along the ground and hurtled to her feet, running as fast as she could away from him. She stopped about a block away in a darkened alley, back against the wall and chest heaving as she fought to regain her breath. A sob tore from her throat as a tear ran down her porcelain cheek.

Her back hurt where the man’s boot had struck it, some of her fingers were bleeding from where they’d scratched across the ground, and her stomach was now in knots with anxiety. Above all of her physical pain, though, she missed Caleb. They’d been together long enough for her to realize now that she didn’t like being alone.

Wiping her nose on her sleeve, she took a few calming breaths and reminded herself that it would be better this way. After checking to make sure that the coast was clear, she headed back out into the street, doing her best to blend into the crowd while she moved in the direction that she hoped was the outer wall.

Unseen against a wall and in view of all the action that just occured, two men traded glances with one another before their gazes moved back to the small goblin walking alone down the street.

 

* * *

 

“She didn’t mean all of that,” Jester said, moving up beside Caleb as he searched the street. He kept raising up on his toes, trying to look over the heads of the people walking and then squatting down on the ground for a few seconds at a time to peer around their legs. He wasn’t really sure if there was any other way to track Nott. He kept fruitlessly looking down at the mud beneath his boots to see if he could spot any kind of tracks. However, there were too many people and they’d destroyed any possible trace there could be.

Caleb spared a moment to look at Jester, showing fragile blue eyes that were ringed with worry and guilt. “I think she did.”

Jester shrugged and moved to keep up with him as he continued down the street. “Okay, maybe she did, but I’m sure that she won’t! People get really angry during the moment and then they apologize later because they feel bad. I’m sure that’s what Beau will do.”

“Just because you feel bad, doesn’t mean you still don’t believe what you said.” Freezing the middle of the street and causing people to curse and swerve around him, Caleb looked Jester straight in the face and said, “No, it is my fault that Nott ran away. Now, I just hope that it’s not too late to explain myself to her.”

Molly and Yasha moved closer from a side street. “We didn’t see any sign of her.”

A few moments later, Fjord and Beau did the same, coming up with equal frowns. “She wasn’t there,” Fjord drawled, giving Caleb a sympathetic look. He glanced at Beau, who was resolutely staring at the ground. When she didn’t meet his gaze, Fjord nudged her with an elbow, causing her to shoot a glare at him.

“Hey, Caleb,” she started, arms crossed again. “I’m sorry about what I said . . . ya know, earlier at the inn.”

Jester smiled triumphantly at Caleb, who had already gone back to looking around the street. “Don’t worry about it,” he muttered.

They continued to search the main street, splitting off in pairs to search for clues and ask people. Most didn’t care and others were too busy to be bothered with questions about a lost little girl.

Molly shrugged off the insults of the latest person and gave Yasha’s arm a pat to signal that everything was okay. His hand froze on her muscled bicep as his red eyes landed on a small man hunched on the ground next to the wall. He was in a particularly advantageous position and was able to see the whole street. Based upon the small pile of coins in the hat in front of him, he had been there for awhile.

Sauntering over, Molly took a seat on the ground next to the man, doing a twirl as he sat down beside him. The man looked mildly offended and like he was going to say something before a shadow passed over his position and a large, muscled woman blocked out the sun next to the purple tiefling.

Quickly gathering his coins, he stuffed them in his pocket before looking at who had just taken a seat next to him. “What do you want? You here to rob me? You would rob a poor man?!”

Molly smiled and leaned with his head, gripping his crossed ankles as he rocked. “Of course not. We would never. I would actually like to make a donation.” Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a gold piece and placed it on the ground in front of him. The man’s eyes glinted and he made to snatch at it, but Molly was quicker, plucking it off the ground and holding it just out of reach. “For a trade, of course.”

The man looked skeptical. Squinting his eyes, he leaned away before acquiescing. “Fine.”

Molly’s smile grew. “Excellent!” He leaned forward. “I’m looking for a friend of mine. A little one. She was wearing some tattered clothes and -.”

“The goblin!” The man shrieked, eyes growing wide as he grabbed at his jacket. “I saw her!”

Molly reached out and grabbed the man’s shoulders, smile gone as he eyes went serious. “Where, man? Where did you see her? When?”

“She was here!” He cried. “She was here this morning! I kicked her out of my spot! That was before I knew she was a goblin. If I’da known, I probably would have gotten a Crown’s Guard to do it.”

Molly pursed his lips, trying to hide his disgust, and let go of the man. “Where did she go?”

The man shrugged and pointed down the street. “She went that way. I was too busy trying to get someone to listen to me to go after her that I didn’t really see. Now, about that . . . donation?” He asked, his eyes growing greedy again.

Molly sighed and threw the coin into the man’s lap as he stood. “Thanks for your help.” He frowned at Yasha as they walked away, grateful that the man hadn’t seen what Nott was before he got to her. If he had, there was a good likelihood that they would have to search the local prisons for the young adventurer rather than the streets. “At least now we know that we’ve been on the right track.”

Yasha looked thoughtful. “Even if she didn’t get caught by Crown’s Guard, then, isn’t it still possible that she got caught later?”

Molly sighed. “I guess we’ll find out.”

It took them a few minutes to gather the rest of the group. Caleb looked even rougher than he had before, Fjord and Jester looked more worried, and Beau was finally beginning to look a little guilty as she kept shooting concerned glances at the wilting wizard. Molly desperately hoped that the good news, or at least not bad news, would help him perk up a little.

“Have you guys found anything?” Beau asked, taking point in the questioning since Caleb didn’t look up to it.

“We found someone who saw her this morning,” Molly said, smiling when Caleb’s eyes brightened.

“What did they say?” Caleb stepped forward and grabbed Molly’s sleeves, clutching at him in desperation.

Molly grabbed him gently, silently gauging how much the limbs beneath his hands were shaking. “She was here this morning. He scared her off, though, and she went down the street.” Molly decided it was best to leave out the part about the Crown’s Guard. He doubted that Caleb would be able to take that detail in his state.

“So we’re on the right track?” Fjord asked.

“That’s what it sounded like,” Yasha added.

Caleb smiled at Molly, nodding a thank you. “She may still be close then. Come on!” He let go of Molly’s coat then and took off down the street, searching every corner and even looking under a few tables. As the rest of The Mighty Nein followed, Molly held back with Fjord.

“I’m worried,” Molly said, leaning up towards Fjord’s ear so that they wouldn’t be overheard.

Fjord nodded. “Me too.”

Neither of them needed for the reason to be spoken.

What would happen to Caleb if they didn’t find Nott was weighing heavily on both of their minds.

 

* * *

 

Nott looked up at the passing people from her position on the side, frowning behind her mask and feeling tired and cold and lonely. She hadn’t found the wall, yet, and she’d grown more paranoid about the people around her as the day progressed. It felt like everyone was able to see behind her porcelain mask. She missed the bright tieflings that drew people’s attention away from her. That was part of the reasoning she had given to Caleb about staying with the group and it had turned out to be very useful. Now, she didn’t have that. It was making her crazy with suspicion.

A flash from the street caught her attention. Looking out, she saw a woman walking by with a very shiny gold necklace peeking out of her purse. If Nott’s eyes weren’t so good, she doubted that she would have seen it. Her pupils grew wide as she saw the woman pass. “I shouldn’t,” she whispered, fighting The Itch that had been present since the morning. She clenched her eyes shut, hoping that by not seeing the necklace, she wouldn’t feel The Itch as strongly. “I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t.” Opening up one eye, she immediately spotted the glittering jewelry and unconsciously moved towards it. “But I just can’t help it.”

Sneaking up, she trailed the woman for a block, working up the bravery to close the gap and grab the necklace. The woman didn’t seem to notice the small girl following her as she continued on her path to wherever she was going. If Nott hadn’t been totally consumed by The Itch at this point, she may have questioned why the woman had an expensive looking necklace hanging out of her purse where anyone could see it, but she didn’t.

When it became too much to resist anymore, she snuck forward and gently lifted the necklace from the woman’s bag before darting away, taking her prize with her. She went for the nearest alley and slid in, smiling down at the shiny new collectible in her hand. She was so consumed by the shininess that she didn’t notice the two men from before moving up towards her until they were standing right in front of her, looking down at her with harsh smiles and crossed arms.

Looking up between them, the nervously pulled the necklace against her chest, eyes wide and flitting between them. Their smiles only grew until one of them said, “She’s perfect.”

 

* * *

 

Caleb held out an arm, halting the progress of The Mighty Nein as they made their way down the street. Raising his nose into the air, he sniffed for a moment, before asking “Do you smell that?”

Beauregard came up next to him and placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. She was trying not to draw attention to the fact that he visibly stumbled when Molly ran into his arm, but she knew that the rest of the group had definitely seen it. She lifted her chin and smelled the air. “Smells like cooked meat.”

Caleb nodded, almost manically, and took off in that direction. The others had no choice but to follow. When they caught up, Caleb was approaching a man at a food stand who was selling cooked meats on sticks.

“Excuse me, sir,” Caleb started, approaching the stand.

The man spotted him immediately and smiled. “Good day, my good man. What can I help you with, today? Can I interest you in some meat?”

Caleb held up a hand to ward off the stick that the man had shoved towards him and redirected him. “Actually, I was wondering if you could help me. I’m looking for someone and there’s a good chance that you may have seen her.”

The man put down his stick and looked a little hesitant at the idea. “To help a good upstanding human like yourself . . .” His eyes drifted to the half-orc and the two tieflings that were approaching Caleb. “Are they with you?” He asked, eyes squinting.

Caleb pulled back, looking confused. “Yes. Is that a problem?”

The corner of the man’s mouth twitched as he frowned in disgust. “I’m sorry. Can’t help you.”

In a fit of rage, Caleb leaned across the stand and grabbed two fistfulls of the man’s shirt, dragging him across the stand and pulling him close enough that they were almost brushing noses. The man’s feet dangled on the other side of the cart while Caleb seethed. “Listen to me you racist son of a bitch. Unfortunately, you probably remember seeing a little goblin coming up to your stand looking for help. Now, she’s very important to me, so you are going to tell me if you saw her, when you saw her, and exactly which direction she went.”

The man had the good sense to look afraid as Caleb finished and nodded vigorously. “I did. She came up and asked for food. I told her to get lost and kicked her that way.” He gestured down the street, eyes still locked on Caleb.

The impulse to let his hands turn bright with fire while he clutched the man’s clothing briefly crossed the wizard’s mind before he felt Molly’s hand grip his arm. Fjord’s voice simultaneously came to his ears. “It’s not worth it.”

His eyes squinted with rage and teeth bared, Caleb took a deep breath before he dropped the man. “Thank you for your time,” he sneered before moving away. The man watched Caleb leave with wide eyes, too afraid and focused to notice Jester stealing a few of his sticks.

Caleb looked up at the late afternoon sun as he moved down the street, resisting the urge to glance down at his side where Nott would have been standing. It had only been a day since she hadn’t been there, but he noticed her absence painfully. It was like missing his hand.

No. That wasn’t enough. It was like missing something even more centrally vital than that.

 

* * *

 

Nott extended the necklace as a peace offering. “That lady,” she stuttered, “that lady dropped this. I was just going to return it.”

Man #2 nodded at the other and smiled down at her. “You’re right.”

“I’ll take it back right now,” she nodded, moving to get out of the alley. She had to dive to the side as one of the men reached for her, nearly snagging her hood as she passed. The other did the same, managing to capture her right arm and pull here back into the alley.

Nott dropped the necklace in favor of scratching the man across the face with her claws. He hissed in agony, but his grip only tightened as the other man grasped her other arm.

The one she scratched reached up with his hand and ran his fingers across three jagged claw marks, looking curiously at the blood on his fingertips as he glared down at the defenseless goblin in his grasp.

Nott looked up at the man with wide, yellow eyes, still trying to pull away from the unbreakable grasp holding her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m s-.” She didn’t get to finish the last phrase as the man’s fist slammed into her face, causing blood to stream from her nose. Going limp, she was only able to peer up at him as she clung to consciousness.

“Disgusting beast,” he added before punching her again.

She had just enough time to hate being alone before she lost consciousness.

 

* * *

 

The streets were beginning to thin of people as evening neared. Almost a whole day had gone by and Caleb still didn’t exactly know where Nott was. Drifting towards the edge of the street, he placed a hand on the side of a stone building and leaned against it, giving his mind a few moments to clear. He closed his eyes and simply breathed, trying to settle his stomach and slow his racing heartbeat. As the day had progressed, his mind had grown more chaotic and focusing had grown harder and harder. A purple tiefling in a red coat came up beside him and Caleb was pretty sure that the colors of Molly’s coat must have faded. There weren’t as vibrant as he remembered.

Molly clasped a hand on Caleb’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. “You alright?”

Caleb nodded and pulled away from the wall, moving back down the street. “I need to find her, Molly. It may be selfish and Beau’s probably right-.”

Molly shook his head and interrupted Caleb’s thoughts. “Don’t worry about what she said.”

“But what if she’s right?” Caleb asked, turning to face the other man with haunted eyes.

Molly’s red one’s were sympathetic as he frowned back at him. He took a deep breath before saying, “We’ll worry about that after we find Nott. Then we can think about who’s going where. Until then . . . Let’s just focus on making sure she’s safe.”

Caleb nodded and turned back towards the street.

Behind them, Yasha had been scanning the street, unique eyes searching for anything out of the ordinary. The street didn’t disappoint. She spotted a pair of people off to the side, speaking in low voices and exchanging a small bag of coins. She couldn’t overhear their conversation, but she did see the face that the man made when he gestured towards the three scratch marks going down the side of his face. It wasn’t pain or regret, but disgust. To finish the conversation, the man passed back a beautiful gem necklace, smiling and nodding about something in relation to it.

Yasha had seen enough. Tapping Molly on the back, she gestured towards the pair, drawing the attention of the rest of The Mighty Nein as well. “He just passed her a bag of something and a necklace, but something tells me that this isn’t a romantic meeting.”

Molly eyed them both and Caleb’s eyes squinted as he planned.

“I would have to agree with that assessment,” Fjord supplied.

Caleb pulled to the side of the street with the rest of the group and they waited for the man to walk away. Before the woman could do the same, Beauregard was beside her, hand wrapped tightly around her upper arm and pulling her towards an alley off to the side.

“What they hell do you think you’re d-.” She stopped talking as soon as she saw the rest of the group, glaring ominously at her.

Beau shoved her against the wall and leaned a muscled arm around her, blocking off her only escape as Jester spoke. “Don’t worry. We just want to ask you some questions.”

“How you leave will be based upon how you answer them,” Beau added.

“Listen, I don’t know what you could possibly want from me. I’m just a - HEY!” She wasn’t fast enough to stop Caleb as he rifled through her bag and pulled out the necklace, holding it in his hands like it was worth way more than it actually was.

His eyes raised up slowly to look at her, but they burned with a strange light. It reminded the group of the battle against the manticore.

Molly’s gaze slowly shifted between Caleb, the necklace he was holding in his hands, and the woman that was being pinned against the wall. “Make this easy on yourself. Tell us what you’ve done.”

The woman’s innocent demeanor dropped as she crossed her arms. “With what?” She smirked at Beau. “With whom?” Beau scowled back.

“Tell me where she is.” Caleb’s voice was on the verge of breaking and his eyes looked more tired than they ever had. Moisture glistened at the edges as his fingers slowly curled around the piece of jewelry.

“The goblin?” The woman asked, eyebrows raised. “You’re worried about a filthy goblin? Whatever,” she shrugged, seemingly oblivious to the glares that every one of the individuals surrounding her was producing. “My job was just to lure the thing out of hiding. Hence, the necklace.” Caleb dropped it immediately, like it was burning him. “It wasn’t my job to capture her. Apparently, Damon was pretty pissed at the little shit. She scratched his face up pretty good.”

The side of Caleb’s lip twitched and fell in a brief smirk as he thought, _that’s my girl._ “Where did they take her?”

She glanced at the sun’s position in the sky and smiled back at them. “If you’re interested in saving her, you’ll never get there in time.”

Beau’s staff and Molly’s sword were at her throat an instant later. Fjord’s voice came from the pack, deep southern drawl adding a note of danger to the already tense situation. “You better tell us where they took her before my friends get any jumpier.”

The woman leaned back further into the wall and her eyes danced between the staff and the sword. “It’s a bar. Called the City’s Desire. There’s a ring beneath the bar. She’ll be there. The fight begins at sundown.”

Molly’s head tilted in confusion and he glanced at Beau. “Fight?”

The woman nodded before rethinking her position and deciding that it was probably not a good idea to nod with such a sharp object so close to her throat. “Goblin fights. The bar holds goblin fights.”

Caleb paled and swayed on his feet, causing Jester to grab his arm and steady him while Beau sneered and pressed the staff closer towards the woman’s throat. Molly placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back.

“She’s not worth it. There’s no time.” He sheathed his sword and pulled back, gesturing everyone towards the street. Beau begrudgingly pulled away and restrapped her staff to her back. She shot the woman a “I’ve got my eyes on you” gesture before moving out of the alley. As Jester and Caleb moved past, she grabbed Caleb’s other arm to further steady him.

Fjord followed them, leaving Yasha and Molly as the last two in the alley. They moved towards the mouth before Molly turned around and looked at the woman. “Next time someone offers you money to fuck over another person, think twice,” he hissed, before cursing her blood. A vein in his neck popped as the woman convulsed in pain, her eyes turning black as she slid to the dirt. Molly nodded before moving back out into the street, joining the rest of The Mighty Nein.        

 

* * *

 

The bars of the cage were warm where they pressed into Nott’s forehead, signifying that she had been leaning against them for awhile when she finally came to consciousness. Her yellow eyes blinked open and she felt something that had been dried to her eye crack and break when she opened it. She could guess, based upon the ache in her face, that it was blood. Sitting up slowly, she lifted her hands to her nose and felt along the bridge, grateful that it wasn’t broken. She looked down at herself and saw only her gray clothes, missing her hood, shawl, and trinkets, which had been in numerous pockets. Even the wrappings that had covered her hands, face, and ears were gone, leaving behind her dirty green skin. Moving across the cage, which was no bigger than a small crate, she pressed herself against what she hoped was the front and tried to get a look at anyone that may be in the room. She seemed to be in a back storage area, surrounded by wooden shipping boxes and left in pitch darkness. There were other cages around her and and she spotted a dark shape in the one next to her.

Nott moved closer to it, trying to get a better look at who or what was inside. “Hello?”

“Was wondering when ya were going ta wake up,” a gruff voice responded, like someone who barely could. The voice was thickly accented, but Nott didn’t recognize the accent, so she didn’t give a lot of thought to it.

“Where am I? Who are you?” She asked, trying to sound brave like Caleb had told her she was.

“Who am I doesn’t matter. Where ya are doesn’t really matter either.” He took a loud, quivering breath. “All that matters is that soon they’re goin ta make us fight. And then I’m goin to kill ya.”

Nott drew back away from the side of her cage, trying to pull her shoulders back and make herself look bigger and stronger, more intimidating. “How do you know I won’t kill you?”

The body the gruff voice belonged to pulled out of the corner and came close enough for Nott to clearly see his goblin face. Part of his lip was missing on one side and, on the other side, his eye had been horribly scarred. He was missing half of an ear and his teeth were jagged and sharp when he spoke. As he raised his hands and wrapped his fingers around the bars, Nott saw that his nails hadn’t been cut in a long time and had grown into long, sharp claws that each resembled tiny knives. “I’ve been in 12 fights with 12 different goblins. Nobody beats me.”

Nott swallowed and stuttered, all pretense gone. “What if I refuse to fight? What if I don’t want to fight you?”

An ugly, twisted smile spread across his mouth and his laugh came out more as a gurgle than a laugh. “When they make you drink the rage, you’ll fight.” Still chuckling to himself, he pulled away from the bars and moved back over to his corner, repeating, “You’ll fight. You’ll fight,” over and over as he moved.

Going to the opposite corner, as far away from what she assumed the front was, Nott curled up, wrapping her arms as tightly as possible around herself as she could. She had no porcelain mask to hide the tears that started to fall down her face and she did her best to stifle the sobs that she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to give that horrible goblin in the cell next to her any idea that she may be weak. But she missed Caleb more than she was afraid of her opponent.

After leaving the way that she did, she wouldn’t be surprised if Caleb assumed that she didn’t want to be found and just left her to disappear, or die as the case was. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Nott realized that there probably was no rescue party coming; that there would be no one to arrive in the knick of time to save her. _Maybe it’s better this way,_ she thought. _Maybe it’s better that Caleb won’t have to worry about my Itch or worry about feeding two people instead of one._ She nodded to herself. _It’s better this way._

That didn’t stop the tears from pouring from her eyes or dull the aching pain in her chest.

 

* * *

 

Caleb felt sick. He knew for a fact, with the way his stomach was rolling with the knowledge of Nott being in a goblin fight, that if he had eaten anything today, it would have made a reappearance by now. He’d shrugged off Beau and Jester’s hands, the contact making his skin crawl and shoved his trembling fingers in his pockets. There, he could feel the note that was badly crumpled at this point and the five pieces of gold folded in it. Pressed against his chest, with one of his books, were the earmuffs.

He glanced at the sun again, frowning deeper, if that was possible for him at this point, as he watched it begin to dip down below the horizon. They were running out of time.

The group had managed to piece together some rough directions from different people that they had been passing, most of whom gave them strange looks when they mentioned the name of the bar, and were able to move relatively freely through the thinning streets. Evening was settling in over the city and people were retiring to their homes or their bars. Despite this, they’d still been walking for close to an hour. The woman had been right in her statement that it would take them a while to get to the bar just because it was not close to that part of the city.

It almost seemed like every joint of Caleb’s body hurt with the strain that they’d been undergoing through his continuous anxiety. He was anxious most of the time, but it was so much worse without his little friend beside him.

For one of the largest cities in the Dwendalian Empire, it still had the same backwards attitudes towards certain races. A goblin fight club took the prize, though. Caleb was sure that that was one of the most disturbing things that he had seen up until this point.

Beauregard came up beside him, walking quickly to keep the brisk pace that they were all making. “Yo, Caleb,” she said, looking incredibly upset by the whole situation. “I just wanted to tell you that . . . Look, man, when I said earlier that I was sorry, I meant it. But, I just feel like you didn’t hear it, so I’m saying it again, because . . . I actually really am.”

Caleb nodded back at her, not trusting his voice to answer.

“And, if shit gets real tonight, I want you to know that you can count on me to have yours and Nott’s backs, okay?”

Trying to swallow the lump in his throat, Caleb managed, “Thank you,” before returning his attention to their path.

 

* * *

 

When the door to whatever storage room Nott and the other goblin were being kept in opened, it temporarily blinded the girl, causing her to blink away the floating shapes in her vision. By the time they cleared, she was able to see the hands reaching into her cage and attempting to grasp at her. Lashing out, she bit the hand, snarling over the sound of cursing as the hands pulled back and shook away the blood streaming down.

“The little bitch bit me!”

“Let me try.”

This time, a hand didn’t come in, but some kind of hooked instrument, like a rake. It caught on Nott’s cloths and skin and she pushed away, too focused on it to see the set of bloodied hands reach back in and grab her. They yanked her out and threw her on the floor, taking away her opportunity to bite them again. A rope was wrapped around her arms, securing them to her body, and another rope came down around her head and coiled around her neck. When she pulled against it, it tightened.

“Let go of me! Let go of me!” She tried to raise her arms and pulled against her ropes, heart hammering in her chest and yellow eyes wide as she fought. A second rope was put around her neck and they pulled in opposite directions, tightening enough that she started to choke and stopped struggling.

When the ropes slackened just enough that she was no longer in danger of strangling, someone crouched down in front of her, looking her in the eye and smiling dangerously. The three claw marks on his cheek were familiar and his voice was one that she recognized from the alley. “We’re going to behave ourselves now, aren’t we?”

Nott hissed, baring her crooked teeth, and spat in his face.

He pulled back, and wiped a hand over his eye. Looking at the moisture on his fingers, he responded by slapping her, hard enough for her to bite the inside of her cheek and taste blood as she fell to one side and the ropes pulled against her neck. She gagged again and blood trickled from her mouth to the dirt beneath her feet.

“Good,” the man said, rising to his feet and gesturing towards the door. “Take her to the ring.”

They pulled her using the rope around her arms and dragged her out of the door where a wave of sound crashed over her sensitive ears. She winced at the sudden change and peeled her eyes open, swallowing at the sight of a dirt bowl in the center of a mass of cheering men. Along the sides of the bowl was a fence that curved inward as it grew in height. It didn’t stretch all the way up, leaving a circle in the center, but it was high enough that someone could push you off from the outside if you tried to climb the inside. There were dark splotches staining the dirt and Nott didn’t need to taste it to know that it would be blood. Turning her head as far as she could, she saw the other goblin, from the cell next to her, walking calmly between two men, stretching his shoulders and neck as he made his way to the circle before them. When they reached the bowl, they calmly handed him a vial, which he took with him into the ring, while holding one in front of Nott. One man pulled the cork stopper out and grabbed her head, pulling it to face up, while the other one poured the contents into her mouth before forcing her jaw closed and pinching her nose.

Nott could taste the alchemical components of the concoction on her tongue and knew that if she swallowed, it would be very bad. What the other goblin had called “rage”, she knew as a dangerous stimulant that robbed the user of common sense and threw them into a violent state. Anyone on it would attack their mother if she was standing right in front of them.

She forced a swallowing motion while keeping the liquid at the front of her mouth and waited for them to release her face before she spat it on the ground and their shoes.

“Fuck! Whatever, you little bitch. You want to die, go ahead,” they said, roughly pulling the ropes off of her and shoving her into the ring. She stumbled and fell, rolling a foot or two before coming to a stop on her stomach, facing the other goblin.

He smiled at her before uncorking his own vial and downing the entire bottle, throwing it to the side as he swallowed. The transformation was visible. His muscles quivered and he coughed, eyes wide as he clutched at his chest and fell to his knees. His other hand gripped into the dirt in front of him as he spasmed before his head came up to look at Nott and the crowd surrounding the bowl cheered at the start of the fight.

She was surprised. She thought that there would be more pomp and circumstance than this, but apparently everyone was too excited to get to the blood and guts part of the show. Flipping over onto her back, she frantically started to crawl away as the other goblin looked at her with uncomprehending, rage-filled eyes. Foam pooled from his mouth, mixed with blood from biting his own tongue, and his eyes were so wide they seemed to be bulging out of his head. He howled at her, a bone chilling sound that caused Nott’s heart to skip a beat.

 

* * *

 

Just outside the bar, The Mighty Nein came to a stop and looked up at the establishment and then at the sky. The sun had just disappeared over the horizon and the sky was beginning to transition from orange to navy blue.

“We’re out of time,” Jester said, eyes wide as her lip quivered.

Caleb pushed through the door and moved directly to the bar while Molly drew his sword and Beau pulled her staff off of her back. Behind them, Fjord and Yasha brandished their own weapons to the patrons who looked like they might want to get involved. Upon seeing the large barbarian and the half-orc with water dripping from his sword, they settled back into their seats. Molly pointed his sword into the face of the barman, not interested in pleasantries like usual with the urgency of the situation, while Caleb slammed his fist onto the bar.

“Where is the fight?” He demanded.

Unable to think of a lie in the face of such overwhelming hostility, the man pointed with a rag covered hands towards a door behind him. “Through the door, down the steps hidden behind the barrel.” The man watched them pass before his eyes caught sight of the scorch mark on the bar where the strange man had slammed his fist.

Beau wasted no time in kicking the barrel over, spilling potatoes all over the floor, while Molly kicked down the door, revealing a dark staircase filled with sound. Caleb ran down the stairs, skipping several at the bottom and risking falling before he broke out into an underground room with wooden walls and a dirt covered floors. A circle of men cheered at something in the middle and Caleb didn’t need any more indication of where he would find Nott.

He ran forward and started to push men out of the way, getting several curses thrown in his direction, but he wasn’t focused on them. The circle of men at the front were particularly tight and it took several tries to break through them. Once he finally did, his eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped at the sight before him. He managed to find enough air in his lungs to give off a strangled scream. “NOTT!”

Over the cheering, over the racing of her own heart, over the sound of the blood pumping in her ears, Nott managed to hear Caleb’s voice. It broke through like a prayer and her attention momentarily drifted up to the throng of men towards where she had heard the shout. There, gripping the fence around the pit, was Caleb, eyes wide with shock and horror, but also with relief.

Forgetting all of her feelings over the past day, she called up to him. “CALEB! HELP!”

Her attention was pulled away, then, back towards the goblin that was, now, running towards her. He slashed at her with his claws, raking a streak across the arm that she had raised to protect her face. He pounced towards her, but she dove out of the way, causing him to get a mouthful of dirt when he landed. Running towards the side, she jumped and managed to snag the fence and pull herself up, making her way towards where Caleb was standing.

Caleb watched it all and moved towards her as she crawled across the fence. He could hear the sounds of the group around him, getting into fights with the people in the crowd and watching his back. Meeting her, he reached through the fence and grasped her arm, mindful of the scratches along it.

“I’m going to get you out of there, Nott. I’m here, now.” He soothed, unsure in his panic if the words were coming out in Common or in Zemnian.

‘Caleb, you-.” She was interrupted and dragged from the fence and his grasp by the other goblin which had managed to jump up and wrestle her down. They both went crashing to the ground and separated upon impact. The other one was up faster than Nott and headed towards her in a manic fury.

“Nott!” Without another thought, Caleb grasped the fence and pulled himself up, hauling his way up towards the hole in the center that was  just big enough for him to fit through.

Beau looked up from the man that she had just knocked unconscious, after he had tried to restrain her from behind, and saw Caleb climbing up the fence. “Caleb!” She called, knowing that he wouldn’t respond. Elbowing Molly, she gestured towards Caleb and said, “I’m going in!”

Molly nodded. “I’ll watch your back!”

Together, they made their way to the fence, slashing and punching men as they went. Molly’s neck was bleeding from where he’d slashed it with his swords and he had a nice bruise forming under his eye while Beau was sporting a cut down her arm from a broken wine bottle. They weren’t worried about their fight, though. It was already beginning to die down as most of the guests got the idea that the show was over and had started heading towards the stairs. The only ones still putting up a fight were those that either ran the fight or had a lot of money invested in it. While Beau started to climb the fence, Molly stood beneath her, swords drawn and threatening anyone who looked like they thought that they may try to pull her down and, therefore, be ready to fight him.

Nott got to her feet just as the other goblin made it to her, managing to defend herself against the worst of the attacks. She got raked across the arms a couple of times and she caught one to the cheek, but she had blocked the one meant to rip out her throat. His strength overpowered her and he forced her onto her back as he straddled her, hands wrapped around her neck. She pulled on his thumbs, keeping him from shoving them into the arteries in her neck, but that didn’t stop him from trying to crush her windpipe as he leaned forward.

Just as her vision started to gray out, two hands wrapped around the goblin on top of her and ripped him away. Nott gasped in a lungful of air and started to get up, seeing Caleb standing in between her and the goblin that he had, apparently, thrown across the ring. He was glancing back at her, eyes wide and full of fear, when the goblin surged forward and wrapped a toothy maw around Caleb’s raised forearm. The human threw his head back in a shout as blood dripped down into the dirt. His other hand started to blacken and he placed it on the goblin’s forehead, causing it to let go and skitter away, mouth dripping with foam and blood.

Filled with an organic rage of her own at the sight of Caleb’s blood in the other goblin’s mouth, she let out a yell and intercepted him midair when he made to jump back on the human. They landed on the dirt together and Nott scratched at him with her hands and feet, catching one of his arms in her mouth and biting down, causing the drugged creature to howl. The tides turned quickly, though, when he used his enhanced strength to flip them over and drove a clawed hand into her chest. The claws punctured the skin and sank down to his fingertips while Nott continued to slash at him with her own. In anger and pain, she clawed his face and managed to somewhat blind him, but the damage was already done. Blood was soaking her clothes and the ground beneath her and she could taste more beginning to bubble up the back of her throat. Her strength waned and her arms felt more like limp blades of grass as the other goblin reared back in preparation for an action that would probably rip her throat out.

Caleb screamed and ran forward, hand a raging inferno as he grasped the back of the raging goblin’s neck as he pulled away from Nott. The goblin screamed as he started to burn, but Caleb threw him away and out of eyesight, fighting off his inner demons as the screaming faded and abruptly ended.

Nott looked up at him through half lidded eyes, a gentle smile spreading across her bloodied face as they started to drift closed. After everything that had happened and the frightening day that she had had, she was just glad that he was the last thing that she would see.

Caleb shook his head and pulled Nott into his arms, ignoring the way that she almost stuck to the ground with blood. Her head lulled against his chest and her arm fell limply into the air.

“Nononono Nott!” He shook her gently, heart sinking in time with her eyelids. Hearing a shout, he looked up towards the hole in the center and saw Beau poised there to jump down into the pit. Upon seeing Nott in Caleb’s arms, though, she pulled back and laid on her stomach against the fence to reach down into the pit.

“Pass her up!” She shouted, stretching as far as she could.

Caleb regretted having never learnt some sort of levitation spell as he stretched as far as he could to lift the fading Nott above his head to Beau. The little goblin was still breathing, but Caleb feared that her heartbeat would hesitate at any moment. “Get her out of here! Get her to Jester! Help her!”

Beau stretched further and felt a hand anchoring her ankle, reassuring her enough to dangle into the pit enough to snag Nott’s arm and lift her up and out of the pit. “I got her!” Pulling back, with the help of the hand on her ankle, she put Nott up on her shoulder and turned to climb back down the fence. Fjord looked gravely at her from where he was behind her and moved aside to allow Beau to pass, remaining on the fence to help Caleb out.  

When Beau got close enough to the bottom, she passed the unconscious Nott to Molly, who was still standing at the base of the fence. She took a shaking breath as she watched him run towards Jester before climbing down and following.

Caleb climbed up the fence, slipping his feet through to the other side when it curved so that he wouldn’t fall, and took Fjord’s offered hand when he got close. He could feel his strength beginning to fade, so he let the sailor do most of the work in pulling him back through the hole. He thanked him upon reaching the top and scurried down to the ground to get to the still goblin in Molly’s arms.

Jester rushed forwards as Molly approached and knelt on the ground next to him when he lowered Nott to the floor. “Oh no, Nott. Oh no.” She put her hand-ax away and grasped the holy symbol on her hip in one hand and reached out with the other, placing it against Nott’s bleeding chest as golden light slowly emanated from her palm.

Caleb fell to his knees beside Molly and looked mournfully down at the goblin in the tiefling’s arms. Every molecule in his body wanted to reach out and touch her to reassure himself that she was there, but he didn’t feel he deserved that kind of comfort. _This is all my fault._

Nott’s yellow eyes slowly opened as her serious wounds healed, leaving nothing but the memory that they existed behind. Just to be on the safe side, Jester bestowed one more blessing upon the injured girl and smiled when the remaining wounds slowly started to seal up. Some of the minor scrapes remained behind and she was caked in blood, but her eyes were more alert and her breath no longer bubbled in her throat.

Molly turned to Caleb and held Nott out to him. Nott looked up at him with wide yellow eyes and he couldn’t fight it anymore. Reaching forwards, he wrapped his own bloodied arms around the shaking girl, pulling her tightly against his chest. He felt small hands grasp his shirt and curl into his chest as his world slowly returned to some-what normal. Molly’s coat seemed vibrant again and sounds stopped echoing from down a tunnel as tears slowly ran from his eyes. He felt another hand on his shoulder and warm healing energy swirled through his body and down his wounded arm, soothing it and taking away the ache.

“I missed you so much,” he managed between sobs.

Tears of her own staining Caleb’s shirt, Nott nuzzled further under his coat, heart reforming at his words. _He missed me. He missed me. He doesn’t dislike me. He missed me._ “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry,” she started before he pulled her away, hands cupping her chin between his blood stained fingers.

“Nein, mein klein. I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I caused you to think something that isn’t true.”

“I heard you say-,” Nott said, trailing off as her small hands wrapped around his wrists.

“I know, I know, and I’m so sorry that I didn’t talk to you. I trust you, Nott. I trust you with my life. And I hope that you trust me.” He said, words tumbling out like his tears.

“But you said “except” and then you stopped. I thought you meant me and then decided that you didn’t.”

Caleb shook his head, face crumpling at her words. “You will never be in “these people”. You are my friend. “These people” is these people,” he said, gesturing towards the hovering group with his head. None of them took offense at his words, although Beau opened her mouth, but closed it when Fjord elbowed her. “You,” Caleb continued, “are Nott the Brave, my friend. You will always be distinguished among them.”

Fresh tears pooled and fell down Nott’s cheeks as she refolded in his chest and he pulled her close, body curling around her as he rocked. He kissed the top of her head and whispered in Zemnian against her hair. “Es tut mir leid, mein herz . . . Ich hab dich lieb.”

Nott responded by clinging tightly to his chest.

 

* * *

 

Molly surveyed the scene around them, noting the bodies of the men strewn across the floor in varying states of unconsciousness. He smiled when his red eyes landed on the familiar scratched face of the man (Damon?) that he had seen talking to the women in the alley. Floating over, he placed one foot on either side of the man’s hips and leaned down, scrutinizing him before slapping him firmly across the face. The sound startled everyone, who turned to look at him, including Caleb who instinctively angled his body away in fear that some knew threat had appeared to try and hurt the tired goblin. When he saw there was no danger, he stood, Nott in his arms, and moved beside the others. Nott squinted her eyes in hatred at the man and Molly had to restrain cursing him in infernal for fear that it may kill the injured man. He wasn’t done with him.

Giving him another slap, he shouted in his face. “Wake up!”

The man groaned and jerked when Molly slapped him for a third time, eyes opening and surveying the scene above him. He tried to roll away, but Molly’s ankles pinned his hips where they were. “What the f-.” Molly cut him off with another slap.

“Watch your language. There are ladies present.” He said, gesturing towards Jester, Yasha, Beauregard, and Nott.

The man looked confused and he looked over. “All I sees a bunch of-.” Molly slapped him again.

“Keep it up and you’ll lose a tooth,” he said, smiling mirthfully. The man paled at the

implied threat.

“What do ya want from me?” He asked, lips quivering as his eyes darted around the frowning faces.

“Where’s the pot?” Molly asked.

“What pot?” The tiefling raised his hand to deliver another slap, so he spoke up again. “Oh, you mean the winnings?! Of course you do! Sorrysorrypleasedon’thit me.”

Molly’s smile grew until it looked downright demonic. “That’s a good man. Now, where is it?”

“It’s in the back room. Over there.” He pointed towards the door that they had dragged Nott from earlier.

“Good. Where are her things?” Molly asked, cocking his head in Nott and Caleb’s direction.

“With the winnings. The highest bidder normally gets them.”

Caleb’s hands itched and he unconsciously pulled Nott closer.

“Good man,” Molly said with a menacing lilt. Yasha moved over to the door and disappeared for a few moments before returning with a large sack. She brought it over for the whole group to see.

Heads crowded around, she opened it. Inside was a pile of coins, copper, gold, and silver, and even some pieces of jewelry. On top was Nott’s shawl and hood, which Jester pulled out and immediately helped the little goblin girl to put on. All of her trinkets, including her flasks, were in her pockets, which she was very grateful for, but her wrappings were lost. Beauregard reached in and shuffled around for a moment before her fingers met porcelain. Grasping it, she pulled the mask out and handed that to Nott as well.

Molly watched all of this happen before returning his attention to the man trapped between his ankles. “Wouldn’t you agree that the young lady deserves the prize money for winning the fight?”

The man’s face turned red and he started to struggle again against Molly’s hold. “That’s my gold! That’s-.” Molly interrupted him again with a knee to the sternum and a sword hovering above his nose.

Grin gone, Molly whispered just loud enough for the man to hear. “You’d look rather funny without a nose, don’t you think? I reckon you’d look even stranger than me.”

The man stared up the blade at the tiefling, not breathing as his bottom lip shook. “You - You wouldn’t.”

“You’ve hurt my family,” Molly intoned. “There isn’t much that I wouldn’t do.” Jaw clenching, he looked over his shoulder at the goblin girl watching from the safe place in the wizard’s arms. He turned back and closed his eyes, taking a steadying breath before pulling the blade away from the man’s face. “They’ve seen enough blood for tonight.” Opening his eyes, he smiled again. It didn’t reach his eyes, but it did bare his teeth. “You’d agree that the young lady deserves the prize money for winning the fight, right?” He repeated.

This time, the man nodded, no words escaping as he hadn’t yet resumed breathing.

“Good man,” Molly said for the last time before slamming the butt of his sword into the man’s temple and rising off of his sternum. Sheathing his sword, he smiled at the group as he turned. “He’s been kind enough to award the prize money to Nott for fighting so bravely.”

Nott looked at the bag in Yasha’s hands and took a breath before saying. “I’d like Caleb to have some of it for his books.” Caleb smiled sadly at the girl in his arms as his eyes filled with fondness. “And I want Jester to have the rest.”

Jester looked up at her with surprise. “Why?”

“So that you’ll have something until your mother sends you some money.”

Jester smiled and ran a hand through Nott’s hair. “Thank you, but you know it won’t just be for me.” She smiled at Caleb. “It’ll be for all of us.”

Nott nodded and smiled at her, leaning into her palm. “That sounds good.”

Fjord coughed behind them. “Maybe we should divy it up back at the inn.”

“I agree,” Yasha deadpanned.

“Let’s get out of here,” Molly said.

 

* * *

 

By the time they made it back to the inn, the moons were high and the air was cold. Nott walked partially under the cover of Caleb’s coat, earmuffs secured over her ears under her hood. Unconsciously, The Mighty Nein had formed a defensive barrier around the goblin, with Fjord and Molly at the back, Beau and Yasha on the sides, and Jester at the front. They moved throughout the city without trouble, any Crown’s Guard that thought about stopping them backing away when they saw the looks on their faces. A little over an hour, they stepped through the doors of the inn, breathing a sigh of relief at the warm candle glow and familiar feeling of the bar. It was mostly empty because of the late time of night, but a few of the frequent patrons were leaning over tables with a drink clutched between their hands. They found their usual corner table, ordered some drinks and some food, and took a seat, relaxing for the first time that day. Over their meal and into their drinks, Nott relayed the story of her adventure with the party chiming in with some of their own throughout. The entire time, Caleb looked sadly down at the table where his hands were clasped. During a moment when Jester was excitedly talking, Nott leaned over to Caleb and looked up at him, eyebrows pinching together as she asked, “Are you alright?”

The corners of Caleb’s lips pulled back in a sad smile as he looked at her. “I’m afraid I will be leaving tonight.”

Nott forgot her drink and turned towards him, eyes wide with panic. “Why? Where are you going? I’m coming with you!”

“Nott-.” He started, but Beau interrupted.

“Please, Caleb,” she said, startling the whole group. It wasn’t normal for them to hear Beau say please, especially that sincerely. “Stay. I was an asshole earlier when I said . . .” She trailed off as her eyes drifted to Nott. “ . . . What I said. Please. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we want you to stay.”

Caleb looked around the group; to the heads nodding in confirmation and smiling happily at him. He looked beside him at the girl smiling at him, yellow eyes full of happiness and agreement. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Oh yes! It won’t really matter, though” Nott said. “If you leave, I’ll just be coming with you. At least this way, we’ll have them to take some of the heat off of us.”

Ruffling a hand through Nott’s hair, he smiled a true smile, one of few, as he gave a small laugh. “Alright. I will stay.”

“A toast!” Molly called, raising his cup into the air. Everyone followed suit. “What shall we toast to?”

Everyone held their glasses in the air as they thought and looked amongst each other. The other tables raised eyebrows in their direction, wondering exactly how much one had to drink to hold their glass in the air for a solid 30 seconds of silence.

Finally, Fjord supplied, “To The Mighty Nein.”

“The Mighty Nein!”

 

* * *

 

Caleb closed the door behind him and looked over to where Nott was seated on the floor, blanket spread across the spot where she normally slept and trinkets arranged beside her. Frumpkin was happily purring under her chin as she pet him, smiling and scratching his ears.

Shedding his coat and moving towards the bed, Caleb paused and looked towards her. “Nott?”

Nott looked up from Frumpkin, eyes attentive and ears forward. “Yes?”

Caleb took a breath, considering asking the question that had been on his mind before finally inquiring, “When I wake up tomorrow morning, you will still be here, right?”

Nott looked guilty for a moment, nodding and smiling as she said, “Yeah. I’ll be here.”

Dropping his coat on the bed, Caleb crossed over to Nott and got down on his knees, taking a few seconds to press his forehead to hers and whisper with closed eyes. “Thank you.”

Nott closed hers too and waited for him to pull away before answering, “We’re better together.”

Caleb smiled and nodded before crossing back to the bed and flopping down onto the covers. He didn’t fall asleep, though, waiting a few minutes until he heard Nott finish counting her trinkets, lay down, and go to sleep, her breaths evening in the darkness. Only then did Caleb close his eyes and go to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Outside the door, Molly sat with his back against the wall in the hall. His tail moved lazily across the floor as he kept his weary vigil. Looking up at the sound of a door squeaking, he smiled as Beauregard padded over to him, bare feet silent against the wooden floor, and took a seat next to him. A few moments of silence extended between them before she supplied, “You’re shit at staying awake.”

Molly smiled at the wall across from them. “Thank you,” he said, knowing that she would know that it wasn’t for the comment, but for the company.

 

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any mistakes in the German parts. I don't speak German, so the German portions are based upon what people have said on Tumblr or what Google Translate says.


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